It’s been looking like this in our neighborhood for the last month or so. I expect it has in your neighborhood too, unless you are my insensitive friend in Arizona. He hasn’t been able to stop gloating about the 85° temps there. Humph!
This is perfect weather for a pot of something that you can just dip into all day. A real comfort food. Make sure you have a loaf of crusty bread, and you’re good to go.
Naturally I edited this a bit. I didn’t have any bacon so I used about 2 cups of diced ham. And in the end, the soup was thick enough without blending anything, so I didn’t. I like the slight chunkiness. All the chopped stuff was about a 3/8″ dice. I like to make things as easy as possible, so I used my V-slicer to do the potato as if I were making french fries and then diced those. (D— didn’t watch. The slicer makes him cringe.) Then I diced the turnip, carrot, ham, and onion to match as best I could.
- Potato & Carrot
- Turnip
- Ham & Onion
Ingredients
1 pound green split peas
1/4 pound bacon, sliced thick
1 medium onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 turnip, peeled and diced (I only had a bag of small turnips, so I just used them all. It probably amounted to twice what the recipe called for.)
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce (You might want to add a bit more after you’ve tasted it.)
6 cups water (I used chicken stock. When I’m reheating this I often add water to thin it out a bit.)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Pour hot water over split peas and soak for 1 hour.
2. In a 6-quart saucepan, cook the bacon and onion over medium heat, or until the onion is transparent. Add the carrots, turnip, and potato.
- Saute Onion
- Add ham when soft if you’re not using bacon
- Looking great already!
3. Drain and rinse the split peas, add to the saucepan along with the mustard, Tabasco, and water. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 1 hour.
- Simmer simmer
- Taste now
4. Remove half of the liquid and vegetables, and place in a blender or processor. Puree until smooth. Mix with unblended soup and serve.
From Burt Wolf, Eating Well, published 1992
Do you really need to add the turnips? I hate turnips.
I suppose you could try parsnips. Or you could just leave them out. I made lots of substitutions myself remember. Honestly, I never noticed the taste of them.